Then spoke Joshua to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah gave up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand still upon Gibeon; And thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon!
Joshua speaks here in the middle of a battle he did not choose. He is defending Gibeon, the people who had tricked him. It raises two questions at once: why does a man dare to command the sky, and why does God listen to him?
One commentator starts further back, with self-judgment. He then traces the exchange it opened between God and Joshua.
This judgment of self produces dependence. That dependence shows itself in blessed fellowship with God — fellowship the soul had not tasted before to the same extent. Jehovah speaks to Joshua (v. 8), Joshua speaks to Jehovah (v. 12), and Jehovah answers him (v. 14)… The God of earth and heaven, the God of all creation, can declare in public that Israel is the object of His special favour. Yes — these very people who were beaten before Ai and deceived by Gibeon.
The order of the verse matters. Before Joshua said anything to the sun, he said something to the Lord.
In this act of Joshua we see the dependence, the boldness, and the power of faith… He spoke to Jehovah; here is dependence. Having learned the mind of Jehovah, he speaks with boldness in front of Israel. And God, at the word of a man, stops the sun and the moon in their course. This is the power of faith; that is, God responds to the faith He gives. And one of the most instructive points for us is this. Before Joshua told the sun and moon to stand still, he went first to God. There was prayer and dependence before the power.
Joshua addressed the sun and moon, but he was not speaking to them as powers. The One he honoured was the One who made them.
But notice the beauty of the truth. It was to Jehovah that Joshua spoke, not to the creature, for Him alone did he honour. How wonderfully free from all creature worship, even when God was about to use creation in such a marvellous way!… It was a memorable day in every way. The unbeliever sneers at it, no doubt, but it is the joy of every believer. I grant you that men of science have their difficulties, as they usually do with what is above them… Let us not try to measure God by difficulties. Let us measure difficulties by God.
The sun gets all the attention. But Joshua named the moon too, and that is the stranger half of what he asked for.
The earth stopped turning. Scripture speaks of the sun and moon just as we do, and as Joshua must have done… It is remarkable that he asked not for the stopping of the sun alone, but of sun and moon. That was the necessary effect of something he knew nothing about. Yet he asks for just what God's power, acting in the simplest way, would produce. Untaught by God, Joshua would have said, "Sun, stand still." Taught by God, he asks for sun and moon to do so… Suppose the moon had kept its normal apparent course while the earth stood still. That would have put the moon truly out of its place.
A common objection says it cannot have happened, because nature does not work that way. One writer answered with two questions of his own.
How sad to find people speaking of God as if He must be subject to any of these laws. We are told that with Him "nothing will be impossible." Again, we asked: "Was the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ not completely against that law of nature called the attraction of gravitation? And will the resurrection and rapture of the saints, when the Lord comes, not be completely against all the laws of natural philosophy?"
Commentators differ over how the long day happened — some suggest a slowed rotation, others a poetic description of a battle that ran on. One writer weighs those proposals and refuses them all.
These are the attempts of man, by which he tries to explain the supernatural by the natural. The occurrence is a miracle.
The nations of Canaan prayed to the sun and moon. That day they watched both obey an Israelite.
When Joshua told the sun to stand still, he was carrying out the purpose of God. God's power is almighty, and both sun and moon obey His command. The idolaters might cry to the sun and the moon for help, and to Baal and Ashtaroth. But Jehovah the Most High would show His people that the powers of heaven are only His servants.
No day like it has come since. One writer reads it as a picture of something still ahead.
There was no day like it, nor ever after, because the Lord listened to the voice of Joshua. The Lord fought for Israel… This is a prophetic type of the coming day of the Lord.
- Dependence first. God speaks, Joshua speaks, God answers. Fellowship restored after failure is why Joshua could ask at all.
- Prayer, then power. Joshua spoke to the Lord before he spoke to the sky; boldness came after he had learned God's mind.
- Worship kept clean. He commanded the creation but honoured only the Creator.
- The moon proves it. Asking for both sun and moon fits what God's power would do — a detail Joshua could not have known on his own.
- A day the world could see. The God of nature overruled the gods Canaan worshipped. One writer reads that day as a preview of the day of the Lord.
And the sun stood still, and the moon remained where it was, until the nation had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? And the sun remained standing in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a full day.
Israel is chasing the Amorite army, and daylight is running out before the victory is complete. The verse says the sun stopped for about a whole day, and it points to an outside record, the Book of Jashar, to back the claim.
A critic called this too violent a disturbance of the globe just to defeat an army. One writer answers that God had a public purpose:
But the object was not simply a means of defeating the army. It was a public testimony before the world that God stepped in for His people, would answer Joshua, and put honour on him. And the sacred writer says of it: "There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel."
The verse names both lights. The moon adds nothing to a day already full of sunlight. One commentator says that asking for the moon too shows God guided Joshua:
The earth stopped turning, and Scripture speaks of the sun and moon just as we do, and as Joshua must have done. We know well it is the earth which turns round, and yet we say "the sun rises, sets," and so on. It is remarkable that he asked for both sun and moon to stop, not the sun alone. That is the necessary effect of something he knew nothing about... Untaught by God, Joshua would have said, "Sun, stand still." Taught by God, he asks for sun and moon to do so. That is just what God's power would do, acting in the simplest way.
Behind the command stands a settled conviction about whose war this was:
He knew that judgment was God's work, and he would put it into His hands. He knew that God fought for Israel, and he would put the battle upon Him... He spoke to the heavens, commanding the sun and the moon. Wonderful! The Spirit, recording such a moment, pauses to admire it.
Another commentator points to the faith behind the words, and warns against hunting for how it was done:
He prayed that the daylight would last, and the night be held back, until he had won what he was chasing the enemy for. He got the answer he sought by the miraculous power of his faith. Looking into the natural means behind this supernatural effect can give no valuable results. Faith speaks its command in the sense Joshua gives the words. God gives His answer in the sense in which He understands them.
A woman told one writer that the account could not be true, because it breaks the laws of nature. He answered:
How sad to find people speaking of God as if He must be subject to any of these laws. We are told that with Him "nothing will be impossible." Again, we asked, "Was not the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ entirely contrary to that law of nature called gravity? And when the Lord comes, His people will rise and be caught up. Will that not also be entirely contrary to all the laws of science?" The fact is that if we leave God out of our calculations — God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present — there is no knowing how far into doubt and unbelief we may go.
Others have tried to reduce the day to poetry — a vivid way of describing one long, hard-fought battle. One commentator calls that an attempt of man to explain the supernatural by the natural. What the verse describes is a miracle.
The verse points to a song in an older book. One commentator asks why so vast a sign was needed for so plain a lesson:
How can it be emphasized enough for us that it is really the Lord who fights for Israel? All this magnificent display across the face of the heavens, to bring home to us what seems perhaps so simple a truth! So the quotation from the book of Jashar is fittingly a song, and the appeal is to the joyful experience of the "upright" (Jashar). Songs like these are easily remembered: the heart holds on to what it has welcomed this way.
One commentator reads the day as a preview of something still ahead:
There was no day like it, before or after, because the Lord listened to the voice of Joshua. The Lord fought for Israel. This is a prophetic picture of the coming day of the Lord.
- Voice — A man spoke and heaven obeyed. The reason given is simple: the Lord fought for Israel.
- Testimony — The point was not extra fighting hours. It was a public sign to the world that God had stepped in for His people.
- Taught — Joshua asked for sun and moon. That is what a stopped earth needs, and he could not have known it.
- Trust — The objection that this breaks natural law forgets that the God who made the laws is not bound by them.
- Tomorrow — One commentator reads that day as a preview of the day of the Lord, when He fights for His people again.
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.